What do you call an Assemblyman?

An inquisitive reader sent this email: ” ‘Will we finally get to call him ‘Ass. DeSaulnier?’ ‘The Honorable Ass. DeSaulnier?’ Hey, I like the guy, just wondering …”

He refers, of course, to Mark DeSaulnier, a Contra Costa County supervisor who won the Democratic primary in June for Assembly District 11 against three challengers, including Pittsburg School Board Trustee Laura Canciamilla. (Yes, she’s the wife of the termed-out incumbent, Assemblyman Joe Canciamilla of Pittsburg.)

The answer, however, will depend on the outcome of the Nov. 7 general election. It’s a heavily Democratic district but DeSaulnier does have a Republican opponent, Antioch Councilman Arne Simonsen. Libertarian Cory Nott is also on the ballot.

But even if DeSaulnier wins, you won’t find the above abbreviation in your newspaper: We have a list of approved truncations and this isn’t on it. While we write, “Sen. So and So” or “Rep. So and So,” we never write, “Ass. So and So,” for obvious reasons!